Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. MARY LOUISE By Edith Van Dyne Author of "Aunt Jane's Nieces Series" "The Daring Twins," etc. TO YOUNG READERS You will like Mary Louise because she is so much like yourself. Mrs. Van Dyne has succeeded in finding a very human girl for her heroine; Mary Louise is really not a fiction character at all. Perhaps you know the author through her "Aunt Jane's Nieces" stories; then you don't need to be told that you will want to read all the volumes that will be written about lovable Mary Louise. Mrs. Van Dyne is recognized as one of the most interesting writers for girls to-day. Her success is largely due to the fact that she does not write DOWN to her young readers; she realizes that the girl of to-day does not have to be babied, and that her quick mind is able to appreciate stories that are as well planned and cleverly told as adult fiction. That is the theory behind "The Bluebird Books." If you are the girl who likes books of individuality--wholesome without being tiresome, and full of action without being sensational--then you are just the girl for whom the series is being written. "Mary Louise" is more than a worthy successor to the "Aunt Jane's Nieces Series"--it has merit which you will quickly recognize. THE PUBLISHERS. CONTENTS I JUST AN ARGUMENT II GRAN'PA JIM III A SURPRISE IV SHIFTING SANDS V OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION VI UNDER A CLOUD VII THE ESCAPE VIII A FRIENDLY FOE IX OFFICER O'GORMAN X RATHER QUEER INDEED XI MARY LOUISE MEETS IRENE XII A CHEERFUL COMRADE XIII BUB SUCCUMBS TO FORCE XIV A CALL FROM AGATHA LORD XV BUB'S HOBBY XVI THE STOLEN BOOK XVII THE HIRED GIRL XVIII MARY LOUISE GROWS SUSPICIOUS XIX AN ARTFUL CONFESSION XX DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND XXI BAD NEWS XXII THE FOLKS AT BIGBEE'S XXIII A KISS FROM JOSIE XXIV FACING THE TRUTH XXV SIMPLE JUSTICE XXVI THE LETTER CHAPTER I JUST AN ARGUMENT "It's positively cruel!" pouted Jennie Allen, one of a group of girls occupying a garden bench in the ample grounds of Miss Stearne's School for Girls, at Beverly. "It's worse than that; it's insulting," declared Mable Westervelt, her big dark eyes flashing indignantly. "Doesn't it seem to reflect on our characters?" timidly asked Dorothy Knerr. "Indeed it does!" asserted Sue Finley. "But here comes Mary Louise; let's ask her opinion." "Phoo! Mary Louise is only a day scholar," said Jennie. "The restriction doesn't apply to her at all." "I'd like to hear what she says, anyhow," remarked Dorothy. "Mary Louise has a way of untangling things, you know." "She's rather too officious to suit me," Mable Westervelt retorted, "and she's younger than any of us. One would think, the way she poses as monitor at this second-rate, run-down boarding school, that Mary Louise Burrows made the world."